Colorado man dies after being bitten by pet Gila monster

A Colorado man has died after being bitten by his pet Gila monster in what will be a rare death if the creatures venom turns out to have been the cause.

Christopher Ward, 34, was taken to a hospital shortly after being bitten by one of his two pet Gila monsters on February 12. He was soon placed on life support and died Friday, Lakewood Police Department spokesman John Romero said Tuesday.

Jefferson County coroner's officials declined Tuesday to comment on the death, including if tests showed yet whether Ward died from the pet's venom or from some other medical condition.

Ward's girlfriend handed over the lizards named Winston and Potato to Lakewood animal control officer Leesha Crookston and other officers the day after the bite. She told police she had heard something that "didn't sound right" and entered a room to see Winston latched onto Ward's hand, according to Crookston's report.

She told officers Ward "immediately began exhibiting symptoms, vomiting several times and eventually passing out and ceasing to breathe," according to the report. He was placed on life support at a local hospital, but within days, doctors had declared him brain dead.

Ward's girlfriend reportedly told officers they bought Winston at a reptile exhibition in Denver in October and Potato from a breeder in Arizona in November, according to the animal control officer's report. 

Officers working with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources sent the lizards to Reptile Gardens outside Rapid City, South Dakota. Twenty-six spiders of different species also were taken from the home to a nearby animal shelter.

Gila monsters are venomous reptiles that naturally inhabit parts of the southwestern U.S. and neighboring areas of Mexico. Their bites can cause intense pain and make their victims pass out, but normally they aren't deadly.